I saw this ship slide past my window this morning, and my brain treated it like a puzzle.
What the heck is THAT?
Naval architects don’t typically just slap together a wad of disparate elements willy-nilly atop a trim, but odd-looking hull. “There must be a reason for this,” thought I.
I didn’t have time to reassemble the camera to shoot from the porch, so I decided to chase it down later, after lounging at Coffee Girl for a while. There was no hurry… once it passed my neighborhood, it would be a good, long time before the ship would be easily accessible from the Oregon side of the river.
I had my mocha and a scone (I’m pretty predictable, ask any of the Coffee Girls) and then headed east.
My destination was Jones Beach, even though I hadn’t been to that specific spot before. Cross-checking the car’s GPS with my iPhone app made that look like the most logical place to set up and wait.
There’s no data coverage there, so old-fashioned patience and observation were in order.
Sure enough, the ship rounded the bend just upstream of the Wauna Mill. I have no idea what the fishermen were commenting on, but wouldn’t be surprised if some paraphrasing of “WTF” was involved.
She’s a cable-laying and undersea-construction ship homeported in London. She’s capable of laying cable and deploying ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles), though none were visible on deck for this trip.
As of tonight, she’s docked at the Swan Island shipyards, probably for repair or refitting.
